General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I realized tonight that America's 99% are fucked for years to come [View all]SunSeeker
(51,523 posts)I had no idea about this Harkin bill. All the unions (and all of us) should be pushing for that. This bill puts in writing two simple, modest and yet powerful fixes that are popular with almost everyone: raise the minimum wage to $10 and eliminate the income cap on social security taxes. That should be part of the Dem Party Platform. I remember Rachel Maddow doing a segment on how everytime a Dem pushed for a higher min. wage, they tended to win the election. And I seem to recall Obama recommending doing away with that SS income cap. It would make a great campaign issue.
I wish the good stuff that is happening was talked about more here on DU. It really is up to us to change the world. We need to take over the Democratic Party just like the right wing took over the Republican Party. We can't wait for change to happen. We are responsible to make it happen. We need to infiltrate from the bottom up, starting with the school boards and city government. Otherwise, the right takes these seats unopposed. Just volunteering at your local school a few hours a week makes a difference.
I remember the hopelessness I felt for those 8 long years under Bush. I don't feel that way anymore. I feel really lucky to have the President we have. We need to get behind him and roll up our own freaking sleeves rather than just complaining about him not doing enough. As you so ably point out in this thread, he's already done a lot. If we just sit on our asses and let bad news depress us, we end up doing nothing.